“No,” Rayne says seriously as she puts a piece of cake into her mouth.

Lyn and Rayne sit in the middle of a park on a wide bench, with Rayne eating a large piece of cake as Lyn sits next to her stunned. She lowers her head as Rayne continues eating cake staring at her in her dejection.

“How come Rayne!?” Lyn yells out unable to control her volume. “Please, I need someone to help me with my Guild!”

Rayne puts her plate down. “Listen, why on earth would I ever decide to join a Guild?”

“Can you not join because you’re a witch?”

“No Witches can join Guilds and become Adventurers. I just don’t want to.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because I don’t to, I honestly don’t want to be part of a Guild. It’s too much of a pain to deal with, a lot of paperwork and I never really liked going on Adventures in the first place.” Rayne says sighing loudly.

“Please Rayne!”

“Sorry, but no.” Rayne gets up and walks away. “Thanks for the cake though, I’ll help you out if you need me but I won’t join up with just any kind of Guild.”

“Please Rayne!” Lyn yells out concerned.

“Sorry, but come back when you can show me some progress.” She says as she leaves the park.

“Progress?” Lyn asks confused.

So, in the need, she said no. Avalon says leaning against the bench. So now what if you just sit around then how are you going to form a guild?

Lyn leans back and puts her hand to her head. “I need three people to form a Guild, and since Rayne is out, I have no idea what to do.”

Yeah, so what’re you going to do?

“I’ll have to think about it and then hopefully I can come to some form of a solution,” Lyn says as she looks up into the sky. “But it’s a shame that I can’t let this slow me down. I’m going to form a Guild with or without Rayne’s help.”

Alright!

“I just have to figure out how to do that.”

In the middle of the night, Rayne sits at her desk looking through a series of books before pulling out a piece of paper. She breathes heavily and nervously as she takes a pencil and writes on the paper with her hand shaking. After a moment of frustration, she takes the paper and crumples it up tossing it away. She puts her head on her desk and closes her eyes annoyed by her hesitation.

“Damn it, why the hell am I doing this?” She asks questioning herself. “I told her no, why am I still questioning this thing.”

“I guess your friend wasn’t the only one holding herself back.” The Mother says walking into the room. “You’ve been holding yourself back to.”

Rayne turns around surprised. “Mother, I just…”

“I know Rayne, I can’t stop you from following your dreams like Lyn. But remember to be careful.” She says handing Rayne a letter. “This will be a long journey, but are you sure you want to undertake it?”

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Rayne takes the letter and smiles. “Of course, as you said I have to follow my dreams too. I wish I could stick around to make sure Glenn doesn’t keep chasing random guys.”

“Yes, she is troublesome, but one day she might actually come to terms with herself.” The Mother says staring at her. “But enough about her, you make sure to take good care of yourself.”

“Right,” Rayne says with a smile on her face.

The next morning Rayne stands outside of a large building in the middle of town. People with a wide variety of weapons and armor walk in and out of the building with Lyn watching them nervously.

Hey Lyn, is this the place? Avalon asks curiously.

“That’s right. This here is the Adventurer’s Guild Hall.” Lyn says nervously as she tries her hardest to calm herself down. “This is the place that any and all Adventurer’s across town gather to take on quests and report any of their discoveries.”

I see we might definitely be able to find allies here to form a Guild. Avalon says happily.

“That’s right, we will for sure find Guild Mates here,” Lyn says seriously walking inside.

Lyn looks across the hall as various people go about their respective businesses. Somewhat impressed by the wide variety of weapons and armor on display she makes her way towards the counter at the far side of the hall.

“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild, how may we serve you today?” A young woman with short blond hair greets her with a large smile on her face. “You’re a new face in here, you must be wanting to become an Adventurer?”

“Yes,” Lyn says nervously as she stands up straight.

“Calm down a bit, you're showing off your inexperience by acting like such a newbie.” She says happily. “Anyway, my name is Mary Ser, see you’ve already made one friend so relax a little.”

Lyn breathes softly as she looks towards Mary. “I’m new and I’m thinking of establishing a Guild.”

“Oh, a new Guild.” She says happily. “How many members do you have already?”

Lyn lowers her head. “Right now, it’s only me.”

“Oh really,” Mary says as the energy goes out of her speech. “Well your chances are low, but it’s possible you’ll be lucky and you can make get some Guild Mates.”

“How low are my chances?” Lyn asks concerned.

“Very, unless you have a strong reputation starting up a Guild by yourself almost impossible. If you had someone else with you, that’d improve your chances, but by yourself, you have better chances of finding a Legendary Sword.”

Lyn smiles a little as she walks up closer to the counter. “Well with odds like that I’ll take my chances.”

“Alright, I’ll put up a formal request if anyone’s interested they’ll come talk to me and I’ll make a note of it for you. We’ll set up interviews and all that stuff, so do you have a name?”

“A name?”

“A name for your Guild.”

Lyn stands somewhat stunned. “I don’t, I never really thought about it.”

“No matter, we’ll say the name isn’t definitive yet and you might get a few curious eyes come your way if you’re lucky.” She says happily. “I wish you the best of luck because you're gonna need it.”

With that Lyn moves away from the counter and finds herself a seat at the bar. After a moment she sees Mary put up the request on the Guild Board alongside several other requests or guests. Lyn watches nervously as more and more Adventurers walk up to the board pulling requests off and then moving towards the counter. Each one fills her with some form of hope before it becomes dashed as they move along onto some other task.

After a time, she looks upon the board and only sees her own request still sitting up on it isolated and alone. She lowers her head and walks away before giving one final look.

Well maybe today just isn’t our day, we’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll be flooded with requests to join us! Avalon says trying to cheer her up.

Lyn smiles as she looks back. “Thanks, Avalon, and your right. We’ll make sure to come back tomorrow and see what happens, hopefully, we can get one new ally soon.”

As she walks away a figure walks up to the board. “A nameless Guild with only one member. That’s an almost suicidal move.”

Hearing a familiar voice, she turns around surprised as Rayne stands in front of the board with a smirk on her face.

“Of course, I’d expect nothing else from you,” Rayne says smirking at her.

“Rayne!” Lyn yells out as she jumps towards her. “Why’re you here?”

Rayne turns her head. “Look, I thought it over and it just so happens that my goals align with your own for now.”

“Really!?”

“Yes, and for now and for the foreseeable future, I’d be more than happy to become a member of your Guild,” Rayne says happily.

“Rayne!” Lyn yells out holding her closely “I’m so happy!”

“Alright calm down and let me go already!” Rayne yells out struggling to break out of her grip. “You're embarrassing us, stop it!”

That’s great news Lyn, we’ve got one person to join us! Avalon yells happily.

Rayne’s face turns blue, and she stares straight at Avalon in bemusement. “That sword talked!” She yells out echoing across the hall.